


Shampoo

by KestrelShrike



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Always Use Lube, F/M, NSFW, Shampoo - Freeform, Shower Sex, Smut, angara, shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 13:56:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KestrelShrike/pseuds/KestrelShrike
Summary: Someone gave me the prompt of 'what the hell does Jaal even use in the shower?' and it escalated. Please don't tell my mom.As always, comments are VERY appreciated and I take prompts/suggestions at my Tumblr, kestrelsansjesses.tumblr.com.





	

There was a great deal of positive to be said about the Pathfinder’s quarters on the Tempest, but having a private bathroom was not one of them. That made the question Wren Ryder asked Jaal all the more awkward, not that she was any good at smooth talking to begin with. 

“Jaal, can I ask you something? Privately, I mean. Like, not repeating it to Liam even if you’re really curious about something privately.” Warnings out of the way, Ryder could pause and take a breath. 

“Of course, my shining star. I will keep your secrets.” Jaal looked so utterly serious that it was difficult, if not impossible, to see him breaking his word. It was the only thing that could keep her pressing on over a tongue that suddenly weighed more than any of her limbs. 

“So I was thinking about our time on Aya, and the water, and then I thought water was kind of special to us and I want to know if you want to take a shower with me?” The question rushed out so that it came out more as ‘wannashowerwithme’ as one breathless word, and then Ryder tried very, very hard not to turn various shades of red and blotchy, knowing it did nothing for her skin tone. 

“But I am already clean, Wren.” Puzzled, Jaal nonetheless remained polite. 

“It’s… It’s not a shower to get clean, Jaal. It’s a shower for other reasons.” Was she going to have to spell it out? Damn it, she was an adult, and the Pathfinder. This shouldn’t be so difficult. 

“Ah, an intimate shower! Yes, we can do that.” Jaal’s voice suddenly seemed to boom throughout the ship, and the tips of Wren’s ears burned. 

“Maybe not so loud, next time.” Half in an effort to move things forward and half to remove herself from the corridor, Ryder took Jaal’s hand and tugged him towards the showers. “Kallo gave me a hack for unlimited hot water, and something to lock the doors…” She knew she was babbling, just like she knew that the minute her crew members discovered a lock door, they would know what was happening. 

From underneath a cabinet, Ryder pulled out her own shampoo, standard Andromeda Initiative issue. Not much scent to it, but it was functional and got the job done. Given that this was a special occasion, she also pulled something from the back, a bottle that would have been dusty if the Tempest wasn’t filled with pneumatic air that kept anything from truly settling. Lavender body wash, maybe the last in the galaxy; would they ever grow lavender again? Would it ever be needed? After six hundred years, the scent was still strong, preserved in whatever way they managed to keep any of the perishables intact on the Hyperion. It was half-empty now, each drop more precious than the last. It smelled like Earth had, during the spring, when the pollution wasn’t so bad. It smelled like a place Ryder had once thought of as home.   
From behind her, Jaal brought out his own lotions and solves, considerably more bottles than Ryder had ever owned. Before she could ask what each bottle did, he turned to her, gesturing to the precious body wash. “Ryder, what is that? The smell, I mean.” Opened, wafts of scent came out, faint but still there. 

“Lavender. It’s an old Earth plant. I don’t know if we brought over the seedstock or not. It was an herb. I don’t remember what it did, but it smelled nice. Gave you good dreams,” and there was nostalgia in her voice, a longing for what had been left so many years in the past. 

“There is a plant on Aya. It does not smell exactly the same, but it is similar. I will bring you some, the next time we are there.” Jaal spoke so simply, but his words were giving Ryder back something she had lost, hadn’t even realized she had missed until a few minutes before, and all her awkwardness dissipated as she flung her arms around, first burying her face in his rofjinn, and then, remembering the whole point of the day, unknotting it with her fingers and leaning upwards, finding her mouth with his, hungry for more. 

Granted, Ryder was far from a pro when it came to taking off men’s clothing, but Jaal’s Angara armor gave her as much trouble as her bra gave him, until they laughed and removed their own clothes, moving to the shower and turning on the water in a hot spray that left them both gasping. “I thought Angara didn’t like heat,” Ryder teased. 

“This is a good heat,” Jaal replied, then stopped her teases with his mouth again, hands moving downward to cup her behind gently. 

Though loath to pull away, Ryder was nothing if not curious, hand reaching out for the first of Jaal’s small jars. “What is this?” It smelled faintly medicinal, the color clear. There wasn’t much of it either. 

“That is a scar cream, dearest one. All scars fade in time, but some require more help than others,” and she knew he spoke of more than just the external line on his cheek left by Aksuul.

“And this?” A larger jar this time, the smell floral and tropical both, still clear but with a faint tint to it that seemed to change depending on how the light hit it. She was careful to shield it from the water with her body, though Jaal’s hands slowly roaming were enough of a distraction that she nearly dropped it. 

“That is an, uh, lotion. For Angara skin, against the dry climates.” Their native planets were humid and lush, but continued kett incursions meant they didn’t always have the luxury of settling where they pleased. “It has another purpose,” Jaal continued, tone playful. “Angara and human chemists worked together and have said it is safe to be used intimately.” Again that word, but this time Ryder forgave him, watching as a single finger dipped inside the jar, and then moved downward until it moved inside her, and then thought was far more difficult. 

“God, thank you science,” was what she managed to gasp out, then kissed him for a third time. The faint pulses beneath his skin went inside her, electrifying her, while his other hand squeezed what he seemed to delight in the most out of all human anatomy- breasts that were soft in comparison to the hard bone and musculature of the Angaran body. 

There would be time for examining the rest of Jaal’s pots and potions later, but now he propped Ryder up against the wall, her legs resting across his own hips, unfolding and entering her, and suddenly the amount of noise she made was no longer a concern at all. What mattered most was the rhythm of their movements, how they rose together and seemed to fit together in a way that defied a galaxy’s separation, how the bioelectricity in his skin only seemed to enhance the experience until they were both spent, moaning faintly, water streaming down their faces and clinging to each other, moving their heads down until they rested forehead to forehead. 

“It’s not Aya,” Ryder finally said, “But this will do nicely.” Jaal chuckled and kissed her neck in response, and then they forgot all about their exhaustion, about a galaxy of problems that still were yet to be solved, to delight in each other once again.


End file.
